George monteith



MONT'EITH. Carr (No Model.)

iage Dash Frame.

Pa tented July 20,1880.

Inventor.-

N. PETERS. PRUTWUYNOGRIPHER. WASNINGYON, B, C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

GEORGE MONTEITH, OF CINCINNATI, 01110, ASSIGNOR To THE AoTivE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or SAME PLACE.

CARRIAGE DASH-FRAM E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,325, dated July 20, 1880. Application filed :March 2-1, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, GEORGE MONTEITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at 01ncinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of .Ohio, have invented a certain new and Imment, and Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sec- 7 tion of the dash-frame.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures of the drawings denote the same parts.

My invention is designed to provide an improved carriage-dash adapted for attachment v to carriages of difiercnt widths, so thatit can be supplied to the trade as an independent article of manufacture, capable of application to various styles and kinds of dash vehicles.

This result has heretofore been attained in a variety of ways, all of which are more or less objectionable practically-to wit: The dashframes have been made with slots or a series of holes in the lower rail at or near the corners, to receive the bolts that pass through the dashfeet on the carriage-body. The slots and series of holes permit the dash to be applied to the feet at different points, according to the width of the carriage-body and within the limits of the slots or holes. If, however, the carriagebody should beso narrow that the feet come between the slots or series of holes, then theslots would have to be elongated or newholes punched or drilled in the frame to register with the holes in the feet. Inasmuch as the frames are made of heavy wrought-iron, the change in the openings is somewhat difficult and attended with much inconvenience and labor, and is therefore impracticable to this extent.

Dash-frames have also been made with a small bolt-hole near each end of the lower rail, and the tops of the feet on the carriage-body enlarged, and the enlargements slotted to receive bolts passed through such holes in the rail. This also is an imperfect expedient, because the slots are sometimes too short to register with the holes in the frame, and cannot be elongated without re-forming the whole top of each foot. The elongated tops impart a clumsy appearance to the feet, and, as they require a greater quantity of metal in their construction than the feet used with the slotted frame, their use as a means of fastening for the frame is more expensive,

As a means for overcoming the objections to the forms of construction above described the dash-feet have been made with two parts or jaws, which clam p the lower rail or some other portion of the dash-frame between them, and hold itin place by screw-bolts and nuts applied to the jaws. This arrangement is more expensive than those already mentioned, and,besides, being more difficult of application to the dashframe, is liable to wear or become loose and allow the dash to turn in the clamps.

1 am also aware that dash-frames have been made with a lower rail channeled in one or both sides or rabbeted on one edge, the depression, however made, being designed-for the more complete attachment of the intermediate vertical bars composing part of the frame. The flattened sides were available as better bearings for the foot bolts and nuts, and this feature was given prominence over an ordinary oval rail for such purpose; but, irrespective of, the feature to which most importance was given, the rail was prepared at the factory by slots orperforations for attachment to the vehicle. because the thickness of the metal rendered it impracticable for this to be done by the carriage maker or user. Hence this construction of the dash-frame fails to overcome the objection first above set forthviz., that were the carriage-body so narrow that the feet came between the slots or series of holes the attachment could not be made, and new holes would have to be formed in the iron at much inconvenience and trouble, becausethe appliances for quickly and economically perforating the iron belong more to the art of manufacturin g the frames than to the art of the carriage-maker, whose desire is topurchase the articles ready for use, or in such condition as to be easily fitted to the vehicle without the use of special tools.

My invention is designed to overcome or avoid these objections by so constructing a dash-frame that, with very little labor, it can be readily applied to the dash-feet at any point of its length, excepting at the welds of the upright bars, and thereby include a greater range in its application to vehicles than is possible with the slotted dash frames and feet, and without the expense and other objections attending the use of the clamping-feet.

To this end the invention consists in constructin g the dash-frame with its lower rail in the form of two parallel ribs of thick metal united by a very thin web of about the thickness of sheet-iron, through which holes can be easily made with a common hand-punch at the proper points to register with the holes in the dash-feet previously attached to the carriagebody.

In the accom panyingdrawings, Arepresents the top, center, and end rails of the dash-frame, and B represents the lower rail, to which the end and center rails are welded.

The lower rail is composed of a bar of iron rolled with two thick bars or ribs, 0 O, united by a very thin web, D, throughout their entire length, the web being as thin as it can be made, and preferably only from three thirty-seconds parts to about one sixty-fourth part of an inch in thickness. ltis thus thick enough to brace and strengthen the ribs, and thin enough to be easily punched with holes by a common punch or hand-tool at any desired point.

The frames thus made are covered with leather, part of such covering being shown at E, Fig. 1, and when they are to be applied to a carriage to which the feet are securdthe bolt-holes are made in the thin web at the proper points to register with the holes in the feet and the bolts applied in the usual manner.

The dashes are thus prepared without boltholes for the purchaser or user, who makes the necessary bolt-holes at exactly the right points where the dash is to be fastened. to the carriage. The thin web affords support for the bolts to prevent the dash from moving laterally on the feet, as it is liable to do when slots are used in the lower frame, while the nuts on the bolts and the vertical face of the feet clamp the ribs 0 0 between them and form a secure fastening.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- A carriage dash-frame having the rail for the attachment of the dash-feet constructed in the form of two thick parallel, oval, or round ribs, (3, united by a thin web, D, the whole being rolled so that the web shall be thin enough to be easily perforated for bolts at any point without special tools, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of March, A. D. 1880.

GEORGE MONTEITH.

Witnesses:

N. K. ELLSWORTH, E. A. ELLSWORTH. 

